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The Complete History of Call of Duty’s Captain Price

🚨🚨🚨 PAPA DOM CoD BLOG!!! *Several Lil Wayne lighter flicks* 🚨🚨🚨

Captain John Price. Bravo Six. Prisoner 627. Arguably the most recognizable face in the Call of Duty franchise. When FPS heroes are mentioned – Price never seems to get his flowers. But, since evidence is piling up that Price is coming to Warzone Season 4 (as first predicted by our very own Chris P.), I feel like it’s only right to run down the complete history of Captain Price in Call of Duty’s campaign timeline.

A Call of Duty lore blog?! On a breezy Wednesday afternoon? You bet your ghillie-covered ass. Strap in, folks. We’re going dark.

Original Call of Duty Timeline

World War II

In Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2, the player rescues and works alongside Captain John Price, who is seen as a member of the British 7th Armoured Division, or the SAS 6th Airborne Division, depending on which game you’re playing.

Across both titles, Price fights through the entire North African Campaign in Egypt and Tunisia, and then moved on to France, where he participated in numerous battles shortly after D-Day. Price is later captured (and then rescued) in the Alps, and continued his WWII resume by taking the fight directly to the Nazis in Gemany.

Price meets a heroic, yet untimely end in 1944 – when he is overwhelmed and killed while singlehandedly holding off a submarine full of Nazis as you, the player, plant explosives to sabotage the German submarine Tirpitz.

So, if Price died in 1944, how does he make it to the events of Modern Warfare? Sami Onur – an Infinity Ward character designer – has your answer. The original Captain Price is the grandfather of the John Price in the Modern Warfare franchises. This leads me to believe that the Price family has a long, storied history of killing bad guys and growing sick mustaches.

Original Modern Warfare Trilogy

In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, we meet Captain John Price, grandson of the aforementioned WWII hero. Current-day Price has been serving since at least 1996, when he was deployed to Pripyat, Ukraine to assassinate an arms dealer named Imran Zakhaev.

Across the events of original Modern Warfare trilogy, Price holds the rank of Captain and leads a squad, designated “Bravo Team”, through the Bering Strait, Azerbaijan and Russia to combat global terrorism. Price and his crew save the U.S. from nuclear annihilation, prevents all-out war between the USA and Russia, and exposes the betrayal of American Lieutenant General Shepherd, who was in the process of masterminding a potential nuclear crisis and a third World War.

Price bookends his campaign to destroy the global militants he’s been chasing since ’96 by strangling one of the leaders with a steel cable, and lighting a victory cigar.

New Modern Warfare Timeline

No spoilers follow for the new Modern Warfare.

The Call of Duty wiki mentions that in this new timeline, Price was still involved in the assassination attempt on Imran Zakhaev (like he was in Call of Duty 4), but I’m under the impression that this new Modern Warfare is a soft reboot of the series, meaning this Price is slightly different than the man we fought alongside in the original Modern Warfare trilogy. Y’know, new Price, same great taste. Or whatever.

2019 Price chases multiple terrorists affiliated with an organization known as Al-Qatala throuogh London, Urzikstan, various locales in Eastern Europe, and Georgia (the country, not where the players play) to end their spread of global terror.

So there you have it. From the 1940s to present day, Captain Price (in one form or another) has been kicking terrorist ass for nearly a century. His story certainly isn’t anywhere close to over, however, as Modern Warfare’s Season 4 kicks off on June 3rd.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a cigar to light.

Papa Dom

Co-founder, lead blogger, graphic designer, and manager of WGG's writing team - Dom has been writing about video games for over ten years. Dom's work has been featured on some of the world's biggest gaming news outlets - including Dexerto, GameInformer, and IGN.

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